The Mystery of the Disappearing Photographs

Liu Bolin, Chinese "invisibility" artist
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Many of the photographs I have uploaded onto this blog over the years seem to have disappeared! Although they are still "up there" on the internet, they no longer display properly, and are invisible to readers. This seems to be a widespread problem on Blogger, and my attempts at finding a cure (short of actually "re-uploading" images one by one) have so far been unsuccessful...

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The Shrine of St. Marina in Mtiuleti

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view facing south
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The Shrine of St. Marina near the hamlet of Ebralidzeebi, across the Aragvi River from the village of Kvesheti in Mtiuleti, along the Georgian Military Highway.

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view facing west
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The shrine is built atop an old stone tower, which - judging from the ruins which surround it - was once part of a group of quite large buildings.

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the interior
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The shrine contains a holy flag (Georgian: drosha), bells, and drinking-horns and other vessels.

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view facing east
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hands and dots

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On the south face of the tower are hand-prints, pressed into plaster on either side of a group of dots (which might mark the spot where one should touch the tower with one's forehead).
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Note: The feast-day of St. Marina (Georgian: marinoba) is on August 12. The shrine is accessible only on foot, having crossed the Aragvi River close to the village of Kvesheti.
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"open link in new tab" for a larger image

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Khevi - Google Earth

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The villages of Khevi (Georgian: ხევი; known to most as Kazbegi) on Google Earth:
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Main valley: Gveleti, Tsdo, Gergeti, Stepantsminda, Pansheti, Achkhoti, Arsha, Sioni, Tkarsheti, Vardisubani, Goristsikhe, Pkhelshe, Khurtisi, Kanobi, Kobi, Almasiani, Ukhati.
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Truso: Nogkau, Shevardeni, Zemo & Kvemo Okrokana, Mna, Ketrisi, Abano, Desi, Suatisi, Karatakau, Burmasigi, Tsitsolta, Jimara, Tepi, Resi.
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Sno: Sno, Koseli, Akhaltsikhe, Artkhmo, Karkucha, Djuta.

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Khevi_Villages.kmz
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(A ".kmz" file can only be opened with Google Earth.
Right-click the link, save it to your computer, and open it with Google Earth.)
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view from a guesthouse in stepantsminda
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Soviet Military Map of Pshavi

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1:50,000 Soviet Military Map of Pshavi, c.1942-1966
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The Custom of "ts'ats'loba"

Freely translated from Georges Charachidze's
Le Systeme Religieux de la Georgie Paienne
(Paris, Maspero 1968).

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1. The Pshav ts'ats'loba and the Khevsur sc'orproba

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It is among the Pshavs that this phenomenon was the most developed and enjoyed the most favour. This beautiful and tragic custom is one of the most moving of the Georgian mountains. The teenagers who indulge in it are indeed destined to love and to misfortune. - In the village, a young man and a young woman fall in love with each other. They declare themselves to be "brother and sister by oath" and from then on consider themselves as "brother-husband" and "sister-wife". Their love affairs then take place during nocturnal encounters; every phase of this union is regulated by custom, which does however not exclude either sincere passion or frivolity.
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Both the boy and the girl are able to take the initiative when it comes to organizing the first meeting. In Khevsureti, it is she who goes to the boy's house, and in Pshavi it is the other way round. In the beginning, they exchange gifts: the "sister" makes ornaments for her "brother", and the latter brings her small presents. Traditionally, the girl steals a bottle of vodka from her parents and drinks it with her companion. They meet in an out-of-the-way place, away from the house, more often than not in the stables. Lying next to each other under a shepherd's cape, they exchange kisses and caresses; here is a popular poem known to all in Khevsureti, describing the meeting of the c'ac'al (sc'or-per in Khevsur):

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Better the day, better the night? I ask myself, good people.
On earth the bright sun arrives with the break of day.
It dries up the morning dew, the quail greets the fields.
Cows and sheep spread out high up on the mountain, lower down over the fields.
But that the day may not have its night, may God spare us this!
When the darkness of the night settles, when the sun seeks shelter behind the mountains,
When the stars become more numerous, many a woman rejoices.
She is preparing to rejoin her "brother", difficult to stop her from doing so!
The boy deploys a multicoloured blanket, and shapes the straw into a nest.
The girl gently walks over to him, without disturbing the bed.
In her corset she hides a bottle stolen from her parents.
The boy is in bed, feigning sleep, tricking the girl.
She goes to him and wakes him up, without wasting time.
Come midnight, the conversation intensifies,
They drink the brandy from the bottle: "Let us change our mood."
Cheek touches cheek, chest pressed against chest.
The kisses multiply, the saliva is stolen from the lips.
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But these innocent affections are suited to the first meetings; soon, the couple devote themselves to more audacious caresses. The decisive step seems to consist in the unbuttoning of the collar which closes the young girl's dress. In principle, the latter seeks to prevent this, and the "brother-husband" is supposed to force her. The theme recurs endlessly in the poetry of ts'ats'loba:

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The girl tells me: "Cover me with your shepherd's cape."
---If you want my shepherd's cape, let us meet in the stables.
I suffered a lot that night, panting like a wolf!
The young girl insulted me: "O why did I lie down next to you?
Why did you tear off my collar adorned with pearls?
What will I tell my mother tomorrow, how could I stitch during the night?"
---"Do not be angry with me, I will give you needle and thread."

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Here is another fragment of poetry inspired by the same event:

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"For the first time, I lay down by my sister's side,
I undid her stitched collar, I removed the buttons of her collar.
How sweet it is to lie down by one's sister's side, to exchange laughing kisses.
To unbutton the collar, to undo the open collar..."
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But the young girl soon protests:

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"Why do you slide your hand downwards, is my chest not [up] here?
You deserve a blow from K'op'ala's club, how dare you commit such a sin?
Are you not ashamed, brave, of having behaved so badly?"
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In fact, things go much further, and - sooner or later - the couple ends up devoting itself to sexual union. But these relations are always practiced "without seed" - uteslot, as the mountaineers say - for under no circumstances may the young girl become pregnant. This is why the preferred meeting-place are the stables. Indeed, during her "impure periods", the woman is relegated to the stables in Pshavi, and to the isolation hut in Khevsureti. The exile generally lasts about four or five days. But the young girls prolong this exile as much as possible, sometimes up to ten days. For the "sister" uses this period of solitude and sterility to welcome her "brother": the couple enjoys absolute liberty, certain that their union will not be disturbed, and - especially - that it will have no consequences.
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All young people practice ts'ats'loba, often from their childhood. The families, the village, the parents - in one word: society - tolerate and even protect these juvenile affairs perfectly. But if the "sister" is pregnant, if she gives birth to a child, the attitude of the social group changes radically. Horror immediately takes the place of indulgence; the fraternal couple, formerly innocent, is now considered as incestuous. The culprits are rejected by the clan and are dead to society. The same sanction applies to those ts'ats'al who seek to prolong their union by marriage - but this possibility remains purely theoretical, as it is absolutely unthinkable and was still prohibited in 1930.
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Indeed, the "brother" and the "sister" belong to the same village and often to the same clan; their marriage is therefore strictly forbidden. That is why these love affairs are always tragic; from the very beginning of their union, the young people concerned know that the latter is doomed, and at no time do they forget that each of them will leave with another partner. Whence the charm and the bitterness which attach themselves to this passion, whence the sadness which emanates from the poetry of ts'ats'loba; a ts'ats'al celebrates the "sister" which he will lose thus:
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O you, my sister, ---tower built of granite,
...You satiated me by living close to me; to live and to sleep by your side!
You are the source of immortality, you flow in golden waves.
May I turn myself into a bird, to nestle in your breast.
May I turn myself into a silver cup, so that I may fill myself with wine
And may my colour be red, you would drink me, I would enter in you.
Or if I were a silver thimble, I would slip myself onto your finger.
Or if I were the field of your sickle, I would scythe myself onto your shoulder.
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Another laments thus a love gone for ever:

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My hear aspires to your sight, I lie on the forest leaves.
It will come to pass, o beauty, that one will kill me, to earth I will fall.
The horde of wolves will attack me, will drag me along the water's edge,
Even then, it seems to me, my thoughts will be with you, for alive I only think of you.
May my souls become butterflies, I will come through distant spaces.
I will exhaust you by your constant swatting, I will fly up to your face,
Or instead I will turn myself into a dream of the night, I will come to you, in your sleep,
And I will gently reveal the white brilliance of your breast.
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Charachidze continues:

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We do not cite these texts simply for the pleasure of displaying the talent of mountain singers, for the latter [poems] are not the best of the repertoire which ts'ats'loba has inspired. We have translated them literally, without seeking to render justice to their beauty. It would be an agreeable and profitable task to study the ts'ats'loba in detail, in all its forms, to deduce the implications (social, religious, etc.) and to publish the body of poems which it has given rise to. Some of them are veritable works of anthology. But for the moment, our goal is quite different: the sincere and passionate sentiments which express themselves in these verses seem to us to perfectly illustrate the distance which separates the "fraternal" couple from the married couple. Instead of the severe interdictions which divide the latter, instead of the repugnance and hostility which reign between husband and wife, we see here the blossoming of a deep and tender feeling of love, which builds between the brother-husband and his "sister" an irreplaceable relationship which has no equivalent throughout mountain life.
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One must insist upon the fact that the ts'ats'loba rigorously amounts to an "anti-marriage", from the point of view of both individual and social relations. Indeed, the union of the ts'ats'al is based upon reciprocity and liberty: they choose themselves according to their inclinations, they separate when they wish; their dealings with each other are imbued with familiarity and take place without any restraint. Also, they really form a couple, whose members consider themselves as equals. Unlike what happens in conjugal life, the initiative is more often than not that of the "sister"; she is the soul of the couple and also its regent. ts'ats'loba inspires chivalrous feelings: the "brother" surrounds his "sister" with delicate consideration, he is ready to die for her, and often risks his life solely to attempt to deserve her love; examples and texts relating to such deeds abound.

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A Song in Tsova

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A 'khevisberi' interviewed

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The following interview of Pilipe Baghiauri - tav-khevisberi (chief priest) of the Pshav commune of Gogolaurta in Georgia - was conducted in June 2000 by Paata Bukhrashvili, Romanoz Dolidze, and Kevin Tuite, members of the International Caucasological Research Institute. It is reproduced here by kind permission of Prof. Tuite, Professor of Ethnolinguistics at the University of Montreal; the original can be viewed here, on Prof. Tuite's website.

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Pilip’e Baghiauri is the tav-xevisberi (chief priest) of the commune of Gogolaurta, whose principal shrine is located atop Kmodis Gori, in the northeast Georgian province of Pshavi. He is one of the handful of traditional ritual specialists in the highland districts of Pshavi and Khevsureti who continue to perform the prayers and ceremonies of the syncretic religious system sometimes characterized as Georgian paganism (for descriptions of this system, see Bardavelidze 1957, 1974; Charachidzé 1968; K’ik’nadze 1996; Tuite & Bukhrashvili 1999; Tuite 1996, 2004). The conversations translated here took place on 24-25 June 2000.The first occurred at the interviewers’ campsite on the bank of the Matur-Xevi river, close to its intersection with the Aragvi, not far from Gogolaurta. The second took place the following day atop Lasharis Gori, close to the powerful shrine of Lasharis-Jvari. The interview was conducted (in Georgian) by P’aat’a Bukhrashvili (PB), Romanoz Dolidze (RD), and Kevin Tuite (KT); Tuite translated the text into English and added the explanatory notes. The original recording is in the archives of the International Caucasological Research Institute (K’avk’asiologiis saertashoriso sametsniero-k’vleviti sazogadoebrivi inst’it’ut’i), an independent, non-profit organization headquartered in Tbilisi. Further information, and publications by the members of the institute are available at the web sites and .The authors wish to express their thanks to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, for its continued support of their research on religious festivals in post-Soviet Georgia.
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I. The Vocation of the xevisberi
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Pilip’e Baghiauri describes how he became aware of his vocation to succeed his father as xevisberi:
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I was a bit arrogant in those days, and gave no thought to [the possibility that] I would become xevisberi. I paid no attention to such things. It was my father then, and when I went to the shrine (xat’i) [The expression xat’i (literally, “icon”) is polysemous in highland Georgian usage, covering the senses of (1) a divine image, (2) a shrine or sanctuary, and (3) the supernatural being in whose honor the shrine has been constructed. The word jvari “cross” has a similar range of meanings, especially in Khevsureti.] it was to party, and I gave it no thought. I disliked the xevisberi’s duties. It is a special matter, you are always busy — and then, fifteen years earlier, no add ten years to that, twenty-five years ago, a man called me, he was priest along with my father, his assistant, and [he said]: “I saw this dream, and, son, be careful of yourself”. I laughed. Then there were oracles (kadagebi) [In earlier times, certain individuals, usually men, had the special vocation of communicating messages from supernatural beings (Mindadze 1987). On such occasions, they would go into a trance-like state and speak with the voice of the xat’i. Most of these oracles were also xevisberis, but this was not always the case. The last kadagebi died in the late 1980’s, in Khevsureti.] among us, and they informed us [of this]. [I said]: “What are you saying? How could I do this [i.e. serve as priest]?” Then, I became frightened, I would become startled, I was falling out of bed. Ask my mother how many times she grabbed on to me. I was seeing apparitions. I said: I must not go insane. Now, in 1989, one of my children died, and before a year went by, I had not yet held the anniversary banquet (c’listavi),[In Georgia, as in other Orthodox Christian countries, banquets are held on the fortieth day after death (ormoci), and on the one-year anniversary (c’listavi). The former marks the departure of the soul from the earth to the afterlife, as in the Biblical account of Jesus’ ascension to heaven forty days after his resurrection, and the latter banquet ends the period of official mourning.] my wife followed [in death]. I was troubled. People knew what happened and they would say to me: “You made this child die, you will destroy your family”. [The vocation of a xevisberi characteristically begins with a struggle, rather than immediate acceptance by the candidate. All Pshav and Khevsur priests that I have interviewed, and those whose selections are described in the Georgian ethnographic literature (e.g. Mindadze 1981), explicitly mention their resistance to the initial call, their unwillingness to assume the heavy responsibilities of the xevisberi’s office. Refusal of the vocation invariably brings the anger of the xat’i upon the candidate, and often upon his family as well. Some individuals fell gravely ill or suffered from mental disturbances, others lost family members to death, which they interpreted as the penalty imposed by the divinity for their obstinacy. (One elderly xevisberi told me that the deaths of several of his brothers at the front during World War II were occasioned by his continued refusal to heed the call to service of his commune’s xat’i).] I went to a fortune-teller, what we call a ‘reader’ [mk’itxavi].
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KT: Was the reader a woman or a man?
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She was a woman, she lived in Tianeti. [Tianeti is a district to the south and east of Pshavi, settled over the centuries by numerous families of highland origin.] She said to me: “Why don’t you go up? Offer yourself to it [the xat’i] (tavi daude); or else worse things will happen to you”. She told me directly, like that, she did not light a candle, or anything. [She said] “I know what you are embarking upon”. She did not know me personally. Well, so it was, I offered myself to this matter, I anointed my hands and shoulder (xel-mxari vinatle), and now I only lack the ninth bull-sacrifice (mozveri). [The new xevisberi must promise to offer nine sacrificed bulls (mozveri) to the shrine. Since few highland peasant families can afford such an enormous expenditure of livestock at one time, the sacrifices take place over several years. Upon assuming his duties, he is anointed by the chief xevisberi with the blood of sacrifice. At Gogolaurta, where we have seen this performed, the blood comes from a ram, which is held off the ground while its throat is cut by the chief xevisberi. The blood is collected in a glass which also contains some wine. The chief xevisberi dips his finger in the blood-wine mixture, and makes cross-shaped marks on the new xevisberi’s chest, hands and forehead.] So, it was with so much distress, well, my family … they blamed me, as though you destroyed the family. In short, I suffered enormously, I suffered. Now it has stopped. But now, if I get mixed up, or if I do not observe the rules, the norms, (c’esi, rigi), do what tradition demands, or if I slip up in an invocation (moxseneba), then I see a dream, it is either my father, or some man in white, who appears to me on such occasions.
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PB: What do you mean by ‘slip up in an invocation’?
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Well now, this word, it must come to you. It has nothing to do with learning by memorization, even though so many things are written in books, as much as you want. You must get to it [the right words] during the invocation, somehow. Well, let us say, there are many kinds of sacrifices brought up to the mountain: gasamq’vano (for the initiation of boys), [The presentation (gaq’vana) of boys at the shrine is accompanied by the offering of a bull, or sometimes the two-stage sacrifice of a ram, whose blood is used to anoint the bull, with whose blood in turn the boy is anointed (with a sign of the cross on the forehead) by the xevisberi. At Gogolaurta, the boys in addition are made to circumambulate a special “boys’ initiation tower” (c’ulis gasarevi k’oshk’i) atop Kmodis Gori. After the presentation, the boys are considered “vassals” (q’mani) of their commune’s shrine. A separate ceremony is held for the presentation of girls and in-marrying women, which does not involve a blood sacrifice. See the descriptions of these rituals at one Pshav commune in Tuite & Bukhrashvili 1999.] sameshvlo (to ask for special aid), there are a thousand different kinds. Each has its own invocation, and the main invocation, when the candle is held up to the sacrifice, this is special … You cannot mix it up, you really must arrive at it, like a memorized poem, but in a different manner.
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PB: In other words, the invocation comes by itself?
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It comes by itself. For example, here is something that is real: Under no circumstances will a xevisberi pass something on to you by communicating that such a thing is somewhere, that a cup is hidden away somewhere. [Some time before this, Baghiauri consecrated another man as ‘treasurer’ (megandzure) of the Gogolaurta shrine complex. The treasurer is responsible for the various cups, chalices, icons, crosses and other valuables which have been offered to the xat’i over the centuries, most of which are perpetually hidden in undisclosed locations to protect them from theft. To our astonishment, Baghiauri said that he has no intention of telling the new treasurer where these items are kept. The xat’i itself will tell him, in a dream, where its possessions are, should it ever be necessary to bring them out.] There is something about shrines, such that you yourself must see [the object], that [the xat’i] will bring you in contact with it (migabidzgos). In reality, may God be my witness, my father was xevisberi, but I had no idea that this office would be handed on to me in such a fashion. Many things happen this way … however I may not talk about certain things.
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PB: Does everything therefore depend on intuitions? That is, does some kind of ‘spiritual eye’ awaken in you at the wish of the xat’i?
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RD: At Uk’an-Xadu a newly-appointed xevisberi was unable to speak. Do you remember, how [the words] did not come to him, and he could not speak. [In the summer of 1999, during the Khevsur festival of Atengenoba, we witnessed the proclamation of a new xucesi (the Khevsur equivalent of xevisberi) at the village of Uk’an-Xadu. The xucesi P’et’re Gogoch’uri, who serves at the neighboring commune of At’abe, had dreamt that the son of the previous xucesi at Uk’an-Xadu was to succeed his father after a vacancy of many years. Lots were drawn from a hat in order to verify the dream, and indeed, the candidate’s lot (a slice of a twig marked with a notch) was picked. The shrine’s richly adorned chalice was then produced, filled with beer, and — without any opportunity to prepare himself — the new xucesi took it in his hands and began to pronounce an invocation. After several lines he showed signs of nervousness and began to hesitate. Gogoch’uri coached him through a few more lines, but then he gave up, declaring himself unable to continue.]
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PB: P’et’re [Gogoch’uri] was saying to him: “Begin, begin”, but the words didn’t come to him.
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Even if you are a new xevisberi, it [the xat’i] will teach you the prayers, the chief invocation, whom to commemorate when you light the candles. You will see something in a dream, you will understand something by intellect (gonit). That is how this matter is, when you are careful for fear of the xat’i, you are very careful out of concern for your children and grandchildren, that you do not make a mistake. [As in the case of resistance to the call to service, it is believed that the xat’i will exact harsh penalties for errors in ritual performance, even if unintentional, and that these penalties may fall on the family as well as the xevisberi himself.] It might be because you fear it [the xat’i] that you see something through memory, through intellect.
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PB: This is the fear of God.
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May He be blessed! I have seen nothing, but many things have appeared to me … But what I know I will pass on to the next generation. What is, is, it exists in reality. We should not say, “It doesn’t exist”. Do not take anything, do not remove anything; they fight mightily against that. [This seems to be an injunction against stealing objects from the shrine, which will incur the wrath of the xat’i.] If you do not want to, do not bring anything there [to the xat’i], and do not pray. This what I know from experience.
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II. Traditional Beliefs and Practices
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KT: If a person is struck by lightning, or falls in the river, or drowns in the sea, is any special ritual performed, such as the offering of a sacrifice, or the killing of a goat? For instance, if lightning kills a man, what happens in that case?
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In general, a sort of angel pursues each person, one that has been driven out by God, a devil (eshshmak’i), what we call an ‘evil angel’ (avi angelozi). In general, it is best, when this one pursues somebody, to drive it away from the person’s soul with a goat, that is, you cut off a goat’s head and you throw its head with a backward movement of the hand (xeluk’ughma). No name is laid on this goat-kid [i.e. the sacrifice is not dedicated to anyone], nor is its meat mixed with anything. [The conventional animal sacrifice to a Pshav or Khevsur xat’i is either a bull or a sheep. Domestic poultry and pigs are regarded as impure, are never sacrificed, and a xevisberi may not eat their meat. Goats, especially goat kids (cik’ani), are offered to supernatural beings of ambiguous nature, those which are capable of causing harm unless propitiated or neutralized. The class of spirits which receive goat sacrifices include the ‘evil angels’ described here, the prophet Elijah (because his lightning bolts can cause death), and the various female auxiliaries of clan or commune divinities. For more on the complementary relation between masculine divinities and ambiguous, mostly non-masculine supernaturals, see Tuite 2004.]
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KT: The meat cannot be eaten?
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You can eat it as such (ch’amit chchch’am), but they call that ‘on the account of the fortieth’ (ormocis angarishshze). You have to drive it [the evil angel] away before the fortieth [day after death]; the person’s soul goes to paradise on the fortieth day. Until then it wanders nearby and precisely for this reason you have to drive this evil angel away from it. For this purpose a goat-kid (cik’ani) is necessary.
When a person is dying, he or she has a guardian (q’arauli). God forfend — for example, when someone is dying, don’t you stand guard [i.e. keep them company], don’t you remain at their side? But when there is no one — either lightning strikes them, or they fall in the water, they fall off a cliff, that is, they die alone, or as we say in Pshavi, they have ‘died without anyone’ (uk’acod mamk’vdar). In such a case it is necessary to slaughter a goat-kid at the very place where it happened [where the victim died]. You perform the deed [the sacrifice], you drive away the evil angel. They throw the goat-kid’s head, and they perform the deed, they drive away this misfortune. Over there, a man fell [to his death], there where the cross is by the xat’i. It should be on this side of the river; it is not allowed close to the xat’i. This is where the goat-kid was sacrificed. That is the kind of rules we have, we mountaineers, Pshavs.
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KT: When they kill the goat-kid, do they leave it on the spot?
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No, they throw the head there.
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RD: Is it necessary to throw the head in the river?
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No, you swing it around in a circle three times, and you throw it away. You say [addressing the demon]: “You are separated from this affair, evil angel, remain in your place”. This is how we do it. I have performed this deed. [The figure of a thrice-repeated counterclockwise circular movement is of particular importance in highland Georgian religious symbolism, as it serves to mark major life-stage transitions. Newly-initiated boys perform a triple counterclockwise circumambulation of the pyramid-shaped initiation tower at Gogolaurta, led by the xevisberi. During their initiation, girls and in-marrying women turn three times in place while the xevisberi twirls a round kada bread over their heads, likewise three times in a counterclockwise direction. In the traditional Pshav marriage ceremony, the bride circled her hearth chain three times to take leave of her father’s clan, then performed the same act upon arrival in her husband’s home, to signal her entry into the latter’s household. In the context of the ritual described here, the triple circle made with the goat’s head apparently serves to liberate the drowning victim’s soul from the demons holding it at the spot where death occurred, so that it can complete its trajectory into the ‘land of souls’ (suleti).]
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KT: Do you perform the ritual for someone killed by lightning?
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A single ritual is performed, when a person dies without another person nearby, that is, without a guardian. This deed liberates everything.
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KT: Does one celebrate Eliaoba [the feastday of the prophet Elijah], or is there a sanctuary to Elijah in Pshavi? I heard that there is one in Khevsureti. There are quite a few in western Georgia. [The Old Testament prophet Elijah, who called down lightning from heaven to destroy his adversaries [2 Kings 1: 9-14], and who was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire [2 Kings 2: 11-12], has taken on the attributes of a lightning and storm god in the folk religions of many regions of Europe, including the North and South Caucasus (Ivanov 1991; Tuite 2004).]
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We observe Eliaoba here, we have a special xat’i to him up high [on the mountain]. But there are no longer many in Pshavi. We sacrifice a goat-kid at Eliaoba. Of course, you could also kill a lamb, or sacrifice another animal as a petition (samxvec’ro), but the principal sacrifice which we would kill as an offering to him is a goat-kid. It is for this reason, as has been passed down by our tradition, that God sent Elijah and said to him: “Take care of the people”. There is a great history about him. When he created lightning, fire and everything; just for this reason we sacrifice to him: “Keep the lightning away [from us]”, that sort of thing…
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KT: Hail, for example, is that also sent down by Elijah?
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Elijah — is lightning, is accompanied by lightning. He struck the clouds together, suddenly he created lightning, and then people could not understand what this lightning was, and they were dying. I know this from tradition (gadmocemit), but whether it is a fact, I do not know. This is how we recall the story of lightning, and of hail too. There is an angel, an angel sent from God. [In Baghiauri’s usage, the term ‘angel’ (angelozi) is essentially synonymous with xvtisshshvili (‘child of God’), an expression used by many Pshavs and Khevsurs to denote the class of divinities subordinate to God the Creator (dambadebeli). Some of the ‘angels’ or ‘children of God’ — the various St. Giorgis and Archangels, and the divinized ogre-slaying heroes K’op’ala and Iaxsar — have the attributes of feudal nobility, in a sense, in that they rule over and protect the highland communes in exchange for sacrifices and services rendered by the human ‘vassals’ (q’mani) who dwell in their fiefdom (Bardavelidze 1957: 24-29; Tuite 2002).] In the invocation we commemorate him: “Glorious force, living K’vira” — we commemorate the shrine (xat’i), then honorable K’vira, that is, K’vira was the first helper to whom people made a resting place (daesvenebina, i.e., constructed a shrine in his honor). [K’vira or K’viria is the divine intermediary between God and the other ‘angels’ or ‘children of God’. He is said to have his tent (k’aravi) pitched in the court of God (ɣvtis k’arshi). His name, ultimately derived from that of St. Kyriakos, is homophonous with the standard Georgian word for “Sunday” and “week” (k’vira), whence the just-so story crediting him with the institution of one day of rest each week.] The people were all working. Then God sent his son, Jesus [to find out] “what are the people lacking?”, then this angel, K’vira — he sent this angel, [saying] “help the people”. He came down on a Saturday at midday, this is our tradition, as they recall, he [K’vira] set up a tent; that is why we say [in invocations] “O K’vira the tent-dweller” (k’virao k’araviano). He set up his tent at midday, called the people and said that “God has sent me, so, come here”, — at midday he [God] sent K’vira and said [to the people]: “From here to here you are free, you will have a day off from work (ukmi)”. He gave the people one day each week.
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PB: How does sworn brotherhood (dzmadnapicoba) take place, what sort of ritual is there? What have you heard with regard to this?
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I have not only heard about it, I myself have sworn brothers. Among us, in Pshavi, it happens like this: those who love each other, respect each other, or who meet and like each other for their manly virtues (važk’acoba), at that time they take a silver coin — it must be of silver, [In another variant of this ritual, known as the ‘eating of oath-silver’ (pic-vercxlis chch’ama), the two men scrape a bit of metal from the blades of their daggers into the drinking vessel.] you should know — then they drop it into a drinking cup, then first one of them stands up, says a blessing, then takes an oath of brotherhood: “Your mother is my mother, your father [is] my father”. Sometimes the words are a bit different, but they become like true children of the same parents (dedmamishshvilebi). “My brother is your brother …” and so it goes. Now the cup is given to the second person, he also says a blessing. The little finger of each person is cut. The little finger (nek’a) is the highest finger, it is only responsible for good things. The little finger is cut, a drop of blood is dripped into the cup, three drops, little drops, and this is accompanied with a prayer. They take it [the cup] and first one drinks half, then the other. They embrace each other, kiss each other and they become true brothers. From this time onward they are related like blood siblings. In this way I am related to them…
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PB: What drink is used?
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Vodka (araq’i) or wine. It must be pure (supta). In Pshavi, for example, vodka is usual.
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PB: If it takes place during a shrine festival (xat’oba), can it be done with beer?
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With beer, or with wine, it is not important; the main thing is that you swear as true brothers, and that you be true [to your oath], that you observe this obligation as if it were your own brother. It is often performed by those who do not have brothers and sisters; they choose a friend, a comrade, someone who is close to them, who becomes their brother.
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PB: Can something similar happen between a woman and a man?
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Yes, it does, although much more rarely. Usually this happens as I just said, between men.
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KT: How about between people of different ethnicity, for example, between Georgians and Chechens?
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It has nothing to do with nationality, it does not matter if one is English, or American, or whatever. It could be with whomever you want, as long as it is genuine. But you must observe [its conditions]. If someone doesn’t understand and doesn’t know, but if you do know everything, you may take the oath and observe the rules, the rules that exist between sisters and brothers, between brothers.
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III. Admitting New Members into the Commune
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KT: Now I would like to know how one accepted new people into the commune (temi), families coming from other provinces or communes, who moved into your territory and requested asylum.
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That was a somewhat complicated affair. Earlier land was scarce, take Pshavi for example … Here the people worked tiny plots of land, many people came to us here. Here, where the C’oc’k’olaurebi are, the Baghiaurebi have immigrated. [The C’oc’k’olaurebi are the principal clan of the commune of Muko, which is adjacent to Gogolaurta. Vaxt’ang C’oc’k’olauri, the xevisberi at Muko, is one of the youngest priests now in service (he is under forty years of age, whereas Pilip’e and the others whom we have met are in their sixties or seventies).] It is still written somewhere, it is handed down in a book. Here is how it happened: For instance, if someone caused disruption in the commune, or did not get along, they would be driven out from there. This also happened in Pshavi. Those who were driven out went to another commune. This is how it was among us here, when they would come here. We Gogolaurebi, we had three people of that kind … This was not a matter decided only by the commune. The commune received them, but took them to the xat’i; when they brought them to the xat’i, they made them swear an oath, what we call a samani — they either planted a stone, [Traditionally, solemn oaths made before the shrine were marked by the planting of large stones (samani) in the ground in the shrine precincts. In standard Georgian, the word samani denotes a boundary-marking stone.] or made some other kind of offering, on which their name was inscribed, and then this was the custom: they set up three cups, they lit candles, and that man brought an animal for sacrifice. The xevisberi took the three cups and prayed: “We, the clan (gvari), the commune, accept this man. Should this person betray us”, — he poured out the cup — “thus may it be for him. If he is a brother to us, if he has our confidence, then may we acknowledge him to be a participant (monac’ile) in our xat’i, and to be the xat’i’s vassal (xat’is q’ma)”. Then the commune granted him [and his family], as a regular segment (ganaq’ari) of the clan, some small plots of land. This one carved off a little, that one carved off a little [i.e. each resident gave a bit of land to the new member], and they settled this man here. This was the custom.
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KT: Is marriage prohibited between women and men of the same clan or commune?
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It is not possible, that sort of thing will never happen. [The Georgian highlanders, like all indigenous peoples of the Caucasus — with the exception of the Daghestanians — observe strict exogamy. Marriage between individuals known to be related is prohibited, or can only be permitted if the clan to which the young couple belongs officially divides into two new lineages (in a ceremony known as gvaris gaq’ra, ‘splitting the clan’), so that marriage becomes an exogamic one. On Pshav-Khevsur exogamy and kinship reckoning, see Tuite 2000.] In earlier times, they would gather at Lasharis-Jvari, and they expelled (mohk’vetdnen) such people: they would not let them in their homes, nor anywhere else. Or else they had means, such as the court of justice (sasamartlo).
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KT: Couldn’t they split the clan or commune?
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The clan would split (iq’reboda). For example, here in Gogolaurta, we have several segmented clans (ganaq’ari gvarebi), but now with different family names. For instance, there were once three brothers named Kubrashvili, the black plague killed two of them — it seems that they committed an offense before the xat’i or something of the sort. A fortune-teller, ‘reader’ or xevisberi — I don’t know exactly — said [to the surviving brother]: “Leave this place!” He settled over there. Now the Kubrashvilebi are an entire village, where I live now, in Bulachauri. There was once a man called Kubria, and the clan was named after him. Then the clan was renamed, and they now have a new family name. Take Ilo, for example, he is a Jabanashvili [descended from the Jabanashvili clan], but registered (with the family name) Pxoveli, they changed his name. [The late Ilo Pxoveli of Chinti was a well-known local poet. The family names of the Georgian mountaineers were officially registered by the Tsarist administration in the late 19th century. Some last names were based on clan or lineage names, others on the individual’s village of origin or profession. Not uncommonly, brothers were registered with different last names.] When a clan was divided, [they said]: “go … live separately”. They would give you your portion of everything, they settled you somewhere else.
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KT: Is marriage possible between different clans?
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Of course. For example, I am a vassal of the xat’i of Gogolaurta; this person is [the vassal] of Xoshara. If my children have no relation [to them] that could be traced through female ancestors (deidashshviloba-mamidashshviloba), [With the passage of time, genealogical relation through male relatives is more easily remembered than that through female ancestors, who, in these virilocal societies, usually leave their natal village to live in that of their in-laws, and whose children assume the clan identity of their fathers.] it is permitted, with pleasure, let them marry and celebrate a wedding.
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KT: Who lives in the Gogolaurta commune now? Is there only that one village up there, by the shrine, where you live?
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In fact, the Gogolaurebi — at the head of the road, where Davit Gelashvili [and his family] are, they are true Gogolauris. On the other side where the Lomiashvilebi live, these have moved in, they are Mamiaurebi, and are vassals of Uk’ana-Pshavi. That is where they are from, from Uk’ana-Pshavi. [Uk’ana-Pshavi, situated along the upper reaches of the Pshavis Aragvi, is one of the more remotely situated communes. In recent decades, many families from less-accessible villages have moved downriver to be closer to the main roads.]
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RD: Those who live across from Muko, do they belong to Gogolauri?
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One of them is a Gogolauri, P’avle Gelashvili. The Beridzes are likewise Gogolaurebi. But the territory belongs to Muko, from across the ravine down to the river.
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RD: How far does the territory of Muko go in that direction, up toward Gogolaurta?
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There nearby, where the village is, it follows the ridge overlooking it. [The next day, Baghiauri told us that he takes a particular interest in the ancient frontiers of the Pshav communes and the parcels of land that belonged to the shrine, or that were considered off-limits to ordinary use. These traditional divisions of the territory were of course not recognized during the Soviet period.]
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RD: As you go up to your house, it goes about that far?
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Where my house is, it passes close by, there where there is a small hill, it cuts across it, it’s a very small place.
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KT: How many people are in Muko commune now?
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There is just the one family C’oc’k’olaurebi that lives here. Also one of the children split off, Vaxt’angi [the xevisberi of Muko commune] no longer lives there. There are just two families, the rest moved away.
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IV. Pilip'e Lights a Candle and Makes an Invocation
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PB (points to the candle): The candle must be…
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A real one, of beeswax. [Four types of offerings can be presented to the xat’i: (1) sacrificial animals (bulls and sheep), (2) alcoholic beverages, (3) bread, and (4) beeswax candles, or more precisely, bee products. As Baghiauri insists in this dialogue, it is the material of which the candle is made that has significance, not the fact that it burns and emits light. At Matura in 2001, we noted that the two xevisberis in service there brought a bottle of water mixed with honey to the shrine. In response to our questions they explained that honey is an acceptable substitute for wine or vodka, because it is produced by bees, and therefore ‘pure’ (supta).]
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PB: And not one from the church? It has to be one of yours?
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It must be made from beeswax. It will not accept other kinds, our xat’i, praised be its truth. There [i.e., in lowland Georgia], among the Orthodox priests (samghvdeloebashi), you can light whatever you want. They have a thousand different types of candles, some of them made from unclean ingredients (bindzuri minarevebi), which would not be permitted before the xat’i. I will not light them, you can light them if you want, and make your petition, but such candles are improper. If you were to buy one lump of beeswax (pichch'a), it would be enough. When you go up to the xat’i, you can make [candles] directly from the wax. [One common sight at shrine festivals is the production of handmade candles to be offered to the xat’i. Lumps of beeswax are held over a fire until soft. As one man holds a taut string about three or four feet long, another spreads the softened wax over the string, rubbing it between his two hands until it covers the length of the string evenly. It is then cut into candles of about one span length (mt’k’aveli), the distance from the thumb to the tip of the little finger of a spread hand.]
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PB: Does it have to be made by my own hands?
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It is best if it is by your own hands. Whether or not you accept candles from there [the lowlands], according to Christian laws, is the [Orthodox] priests’ affair. But among us, I am telling you the truth, I know for sure, I saw a dream that the xat’ebi would throw them [church candles] away, they wouldn’t accept them.
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...
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[Invocation] May he be well, may the great Angel of St. Giorgi of Matur-Xevi grant you mercy, may the Creator of Damast’e (damast’urma gamchchenelma) multiply your young generation [These are the two shrines at either end of the Matur-Xevi valley. The xat’i of the Archangel is the principal shrine of the Matura commune, located outside of a hamlet near the head of the valley. The powerful weather shrine of Damast’e or Damast’uri [see photo] overlooks the confluence of the Matur-Xevi and Aragvi rivers. It received offerings from all Pshav communes on the Sunday before Lent, and in times of drought or excessive rain.], may he always go before [you] and greet you and your children with happiness here! Let this be my prayer, may the mercy of the angels be [upon you]. Rejoice, multiply, be well and may your travels always be good and safe. Beside this I will add: Victory (gaumarjos) to the sanctuaries that are in our [land of] Georgia: those of Pshavi, of Khevsureti, of Mountain Tusheti. May the praise be theirs, and may they be merciful to our Georgian nation. Let there be peace in our Georgia, let there be happiness, let there be hope for our young people. What power there is that comes from God, that is sent by the angels for the aid of mortals (xorcielta), may it help them and assist them. May we see a united Georgia, may we see peace, may we have such a leader, that will bring matters to a peaceful resolution. [Almost all of the verbs used in the text of this invocation are in the pluperfect conjunctive, a verb paradigm that is rarely used in modern Georgian except in toasts, wishes and the like. Baghiauri forms the pluperfect conjunctive of relative intransitive verbs by postposing the optative of the copula, a non-standard usage characteristic of some Georgian dialects (gv-q’ol-iq’os “may we have him”; h-q’var-eb-iq’os “may they love [each other]”; cp. standard Georgian gv-q’ol-od-es, h-q’var-eb-od-es).]
This now is the second toast: to you men and those like you in our little corner, our little Georgia. May such people grow up clever, upright and good. May they promote [the cause of] peace. May we lend each other a hand (shegvec’q’vas xeli) in love, in mutual understanding. May we raise such a future generation, so that they will love each other, and not have a hostile outlook. Let there be peace, may God look down from above, the angels and the martyrs. Victory to you, may you be well!
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...
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As xevisberi you must behave in exemplary manner, and then you must give a push to (ubidzgo) the future generation: so that you, son, grandson, may follow me in this way. This honor, these precepts (darigeba), this law (c’esi) — if we are to become impure (uc’mindurebish), how could we instruct others? We have this obligation.
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V. At Lasharis-Djvari
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The next day the xevisberi and the interviewers went upriver to the central Pshav shrine of Lasharis-Jvari, accompanied by the writer Irak’li Gogolauri and several construction workers. [The late Irak’li Gogolauri of Magharos-k’ari was a highly-regarded author, especially of poems for children.] The occasion was a very special one: Gogolauri had raised money and resources for the restoration of several ruined buildings within the precincts of Lasharis-Jvari, beginning with the rebuilding of the salude (beer-storage cabin), to be followed by work on the ancient sadarbazo (meeting-place) where the chief priests of the Pshav communes formerly met to discuss issues of importance to the highland community. Before beginning work, Irak’li Gogolauri and the men who were to participate in the project brought a lamb to Baghiauri to be sacrificed to the shrine’s patron divinity Lashara, to ask his blessing and appease him should anyone unwittingly incur his displeasure while working in the proximity of his sanctuary. Lashara, whose name derives from the 13th-century Georgian monarch Giorgi IV Lasha, the son of Queen Tamar, is the most powerful among the divine overlords of the Pshav communes. An 18th-century document mentions eleven communes, all of which were inhabited until recently, but according to local tradition there were once twelve or even fifteen groups of villages under the protection of Lashara. During the great mid-summer festival of Seroba or Saghmurtoba, members of all the Pshav communes gathered at Lasharis-Jvari on the Monday following P’et’re-P’avloba, the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul (29 June O.S. = 12 July N.S.). The following day, they would visit the shrine of Tamar-Ghele, named after Queen Tamar, situated in a nearby river valley.
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Our conversation took place on the slope of Lasharis Gori, overlooking the main candle-altar and sacrifice grounds of the Lasharis-Jvari complex. Some of the men are holding lumps of beeswax with their knives over the fire, to soften it for making candles. Pilip’e Baghiauri points to the various spots on the hillside where the communes used to gather on feastdays.
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Each commune that came here sat in its own area (sajare). Here is where the Gogolaurebi dug out their area. The Gogolaurebi used to say that at the shrine festival (xat’oba), their banner (droshsha) was the first to arrive at Lasharis-Jvari, and the Gogolaurebi represented the largest portion (c’ili, i.e. were the most numerous). Gara Turmanauli was one of ours, and they built him the dwelling closest to the xat’i. [Gara Turmanauli was a celebrated warrior, said to have led the Pshavs to victory on numerous occasions. After his death, according to legend, the Pshavs exhumed Gara’s body, removed his shoulderblade and attached it to the banner of Lashari, in order to assure continued success in battle (K’ik’nadze 1996: 182).] At gatherings each commune has its place, and each one knows where its place is. They have dug out, levelled off their places, just for them. Everyone comes to Lasharoba, and they gather there. Here in the middle was the beer-storage cabin (salude). The Gogolaurebi must have been the smartest, because they set up their place closest to the salude.
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When the Turmanaulebi came, history does not recall. No one remembers when the Gogolaurta came, that is, they are the unjni, the aboriginal ones, among us. The word unjni means ‘old’. [In mediaeval Georgian unji means ‘treasure’, as in the derived form sa-unj-e, ‘treasure trove’.] The unjni q’mani (original vassals of the xat’i) are to be distinguished from the q’urum q’mani. The q’urum q’mani are those who immigrated, who entered by oath. They are called ‘entered-by-oath q’urum vassals’ (shemopicult q’urum q’mani). These are secondary; those who are primary, they are called unjni q’mani. It is a big difference. [Bardavelidze (1957: 35) deemed the unjni q’mani tantamount to an incipient ‘aristocracy’, as they were the group from which most community leaders were drawn.]
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There was one xevisberi, but as judge (mosamartle) there would be just one from among the fifteen communes, who would be a xevisberi, who could decide matters of justice. He was considered the elder. So that there would be no mistakes in anything. For instance, Gara Turmanauli was a Gogolauri, he was a xevisberi, he was the most intelligent, and here (at Lasharis-Jvari) he officiated. Then there was a man from Axadi [The commune of Axadi, now uninhabited, was located further upstream along the opposite bank of the Aragvi.], and so on. The primary xevisberi, who performed, took care of matters, was chosen by him [Lasharis-Jvari], the xat’i himself chose him. He was the cleverest in the commune, the most worthy, the most honorable. Then the court of justice (sasamartlo) took place, when they expelled people from here. They call it expulsion (mok’veta) when they exclude someone, be it a woman or a man. Here the court of justice was held, it sat here, matters were settled. And here was the meeting-hall (darbazi), where they arrived at decisions, the council of the communes (temta sabchch’o) — we are finally going to rebuild the meeting-hall.
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Come here, I will tell you something. You know Lela Buc’ashvili. She had dedicated a five-year-old bull as an offering (mozveri). The woman led it here. Like it or not, she had seen a dream, her children came to her, [saying]: “You must sacrifice it”, so she tells me. “I saw you in the dream” [she says], it [the dream] came once, twice, three times. We came down; I brought Davit Gelashvili and some others and we came here. They said, “let’s slaughter it down here [on the riverbank], we won’t be able to get this one up there” [presumably the beast seemed too heavy to walk up the narrow path to the summit of Lasharis Gori, where the shrine is]. I told them, “What do you mean we can’t lead it up there, that is the custom!” [They said], “then bring the candles and we’ll light them down here”. This bull was resisting, we were 9 or 10 men, it’s bellowing, the whole unfortunate business. We arrived there, I lit the candle, I put my hand on it, I went in front, it came up here. When we got up here, [they said], “we won’t be able to overturn it onto its side”. [Before the bull’s throat is cut, it is forced to lay on its side. This is usually done by running a rope around its front, then hind legs, and then pulling until the beast keels over.] We stood up and tied it up with a thick rope. As I touched the dagger to it, it broke [the rope] and got away, the rope was frayed. I fell back, then I went back to the bull. It followed me, then it knelt down, on its own, right here, where the blood is to go down. [Animals sacrificed at Lasharis-Jvari are slaughtered next to a shallow rectangular pit, into which their blood is made to flow.] This is where it must be sacrificed, for the offering of blood, the sacrifice is to be killed by this spot. People witnessed it.
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References
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Bardavelidze, Vera. 1957. Drevnejshshie religioznye verovanija i obrjadovoe grafichcheskoe iskusstvo gruzinskix plemen. Tbilisi: Mecniereba.
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Bardavelidze, Vera. 1974. Aghmosavlet sakartvelos mtianetis t’raditsiuli sazogadoebriv-sak’ult’o dzeglebi. [Traditional cultic monuments of the East Georgian mountain districts]. Vol I: Pshavi. Tbilisi. Metsniereba.
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Charachidzé, Georges. 1968. Le système religieux de la Géorgie païenne: analyse structurale d’une civilisation. Paris: Maspero.
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Ivanov, Vjacheslav Vs. 1991. Ilija. Mify narodov mira, S. A. Tokarev (ed.), vol. I: 505-6. Moscow: Sovetskaja enciklopedia.
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K’ik’nadze, Zurab. 1996. kartuli mitologia, I. jjvari da saq’mo. (Georgian mythology, I. The shrine and the community.) Kutaisi: Gelati Academy of Sciences.
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Mindadze, Nunu. 1981. rcheulebis inst’it’ut’i da psikonervuli daavadebani pshavshi. [The institution of (divine) selection and psycho-nervous illnesses in Pshavi]. Masalebi sakartvelos etnograpiisatvis XXI: 146-152.
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Mindadze, Nunu. 1987. kadagobis sak’itxisatvis aghmosavlet sakartvelos mtianeti. [The question of the institution of the kadagi (oracle) in the East Georgian highlands]. Masalebi sakartvelos etnograpiisatvis XXIII: 174-180.
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Tuite, Kevin. 1996. Highland Georgian paganism — archaism or innovation? Annual of the Society for the Study of Caucasia #7, pp 79-91.
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Tuite, Kevin. 2000. “Anti-marriage” in ancient Georgian society. Anthropological Linguistics 42 #1: 37-60.
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Tuite, Kevin. 2002. Real and imagined feudalism in highland Georgia. Amirani #7: 25-43
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Tuite, Kevin. 2004. Lightning, sacrifice and possession in the traditional religions of the Caucasus. Anthroposchshshsh 99: 143-159 (part I); 481-497 (part II).
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Tuite, K. and P’aat’a Bukhrashvili. 1999. Binarität und Komplementarität in Nordostgeorgien. Die Vorstellung von Jungen und Mädchen am Iaqsari-Heiligtum. Georgica #22: 59-72. (French version published in Amirani #3: 41-55 (2000), available on-line at www.caucasology.com/amirani.htm)
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The Traditional Tush Family

The Traditional Tush Family - Structure and Economic Activity
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The basic unit of Caucasian society is the extended family, a grouping of several lineages collectively owning and exploiting a same estate. In Georgia, the extended family is particularly found in the western mountains among the Svans and in the east among the Tush, the Mokhev (inhabitants of Khevi), and the Pshav. Even as late as the early twentieth century it was not rare to find family communities composed of more than forty members, living under one roof, cultivating and exploiting collective property, and placed under the authority of the oldest man. Here is, for example, the composition of a Tush family, which remained undivided until 1913; the Djidjuriani, from the village of Shenak'o, were twenty-five individuals: the "Father of the House" (mamasakhlisi, i.e. the patriarch) and his wife, an unmarried son, five other sons and their wives, their eleven children, and the wife of one of the latter. They collectively owned a thousand two hundred heads of cattle (ovin and caprin), ten cows, a pair of oxen, and thirty horses, and they cultivated an area of land equivalent to fifteen "dailies" (dghiuri, i.e. a surface of land which regularly required a day's work to be cultivated).
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In another village, the Ganaani family was made up of three generations, a total of nineteen family members, of which ten were men. They owned between a thousand and a thousand five hundred heads of small cattle (ovin and caprin), eight cows, a pair of oxen, and six "dailies" of land. The elder son was in charge of the entire estate. Of his three younger brothers, two were responsible for the so-called "interior" or "inside" farming, i.e. they tended the family's fields, and the third was responsible for making cheese and other milk products. Among the next, younger generation, the son and the nephews of the family head (his son and the six sons of his younger brothers) devoted themselves to pastoral activities, helped by eight shepherds - seasonal workers foreign to the community and in the family's employ. Livestock farming was the most important part of the Tush economy. Tending to the needs of the family's cattle required fifteen men, whereas only two could acquit themselves of the "inside" farming. This disproportion explains the existence of a practice which differentiates the Tush from the other mountain tribes: almost all the male members of the family were needed to care for the cattle; consequently, it was the women who tended to the fields - ploughing and sowing them, etc. When this seasonal work was over, they devoted themselves to their main activity: the production of wool, weaving, the making of clothes, etc. Female work was organized by and under the direction of the "Mistress of the House" (dedasakhlisi, i.e. the matriarch); this role automatically belonged to the wife of the oldest man: the wife of the "Father of the House" (1st generation) or, if she died, the wife of the elder brother (2nd generation); the woman's age was never taken into consideration - only that of her husband. And as for the role of patriarch, it always belonged to the oldest man.
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The matriarch was also responsible for another important task: she was in charge of the accumulation of unconsumed goods - milk products, meat, grain - and had to see to their storage and preservation. These reserves were called the saodjakho, "for the family", and were destined to remain intact as the family's private wealth, and were not to be shared. In cases of absolute necessity, part of this wealth could be used by the family, but always collectively. This treasury also included sums of money, which were sometimes considerable, and which were also placed under the authority of the "Mistress of the House". Among the Tush and the Pshav, the profits resulting from the sale of livestock or products were hoarded, and not reinvested. Gains were thus buried forever and none would profit. Rapiel Eristavi commented upon this in 1855:
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"This branch of agriculture [livestock farming] provides people with relatively important profits; the monies resulting from the sale of hides, of wool, of cheese and milk, are carefully entered in the families books. Among the Pshav and the Tush one may meet with well-off families who own forty or fifty thousand roubles, among which one may still find fifty kopeck coins, which are now no longer in use. This phenomenon is unsurprising, for the mountaineers - instead of reinvesting their money and replacing it into the economy - bury it in the earth."
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This practice is important, for it shows to what extent mountain societies remained outside of the merchant economy, which was nonetheless penetrating most Georgian provinces. As in most archaic civilizations, the mountain tribes had no conception of goods being able to bear another value than their intrinsic value. As money was only defined by its value as a means of exchange, it was condemned to remain foreign to their economic system, for these peoples essentially provided for their own needs without resorting to commerce. Gaps in production were filled by barter and - possibly - pillage, whose economic role would merit closer study.
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Batsbi Bilingualism

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Bilingualism and multilingualism is characteristic of many peoples of the Soviet Union. These features can be observed among the peoples of [the] northern Caucasus, Daghestan, Transcaucasia, the Volga regions, Central Asia, the Baltic Republic, the Far East, etc.
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There are some interesting observations of bilingualism among a number of mountain nationalities in the Caucasus. We shall dwell on the example when one of the under-developed mountain nationalities had been for several centuries under the influence of a mightier nationality, in regard to its cultural economy and its language, and had then become bilingual, at the same time preserving its own national language. This concerns the Batsbi people, a Circassian - Ingush nationality, otherwise - the Veinach group, living on the territory of the Georgian SSR.
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According to our data, the Batsbi, or the Tsova-Tush people, had in the 6th-7th centuries become the territorial neighbours of the Georgians. We possess historical documents testifying to the economic and cultural-historic relations between the Batsbi and the Georgian peoples in the 16th century. Apparently, the Batsbi people adopted Christianity from the Georgians. According to literary data all the Batsbi people living in Georgian surroundings had mastered the Georgian language by the twenties of the 19th century and by that time had certainly become bilingual.
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We can be certain that before becoming bilingual the Batsbi people had many Georgian word-loans and significant phraseological borrowings. But still during this period (before the establishment of bilingualism) their every-day language was the Batsbi. After the establishment of bilingualism beyond the limits of their aul [sic], the Batsbi people, as a rule, communicated in Georgian, continuing to borrow into their own language Georgian words, phraseology and also individual phonetic and grammatical features.
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But alongside of this, while using Georgian as a means of communication, the Batsbi people added to it the peculiarities of their own language, concerning, first of all, phonetics, separate words and even Batsbi grammar models. This resulted in the fact that at the present time there is a special Batsbi, or Tsiva-Tush dialect [sic.] of the Georgian language.
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The bilingualism of the Batsbi people has apparently been in existence for several ages, but as we have observed, during a significant period of time it did not hinder the parallel usage of the Georgian language and the native language of the Batsbi people. Gradually only the sphere of usage of the Batsbi language became narrower. Also some changes have taken place in the vocabulary, phonetic and grammatical systems of the Batsbi language. The grammatical system of the Batsbi language, in general, has been preserved up till the present time, though the language is gradually giving way, even in inter-family relations, to the Batsbi dialect of the Georgian language.
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Prof. G.P. Serdyuchenko, The Linguistic Aspect of Bilingualism, in Report on an International Seminar on Bilingualism in Education, Aberystwyth, Wales, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1978.

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Pshavi

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a view of pshavi from google earth
(the valley running north-south on the left-hand side is that of the pshavis aragvi river;
the 12 villages of pshavi are in the perpendicular valley, running east-west)
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the turn to pshavi off the main road north from tbilisi towards barisakho and khevsureti
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I recently (June 2009) went to Pshavi for the first time, in the company of Thomas Wier, an aspiring linguist here in Georgia to study kartvelian dialects (Tush, Pshav, Khevsur, Mokhevian, etc.). We were meant to go with someone from the Arnold Chikobava Institute of Linguistics in Tbilisi, but this being Georgia, it never happened, and Thomas and I decided to head up to Pshavi on our own.
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Although we got no further than the village of Shupakho, we did get to meet Lazare Elizbarashvili, the khevisberi (or "Valley Elder") of the Sacred Shine of Iaqsar.

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lazare elizbarashvili, the valley elder of shuapkho and guardian of the shrine of iaqsar
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the sacred shrine of iaqsar (hidden in the trees up on the right)
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Iaqsar is the khati of the village of Shuapkho, a pagan divinity (winged, in some narratives) in the Pshav-Khevsur pantheon, the sworn brother of Kopala, like him a slayer of devi, devils.

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To download the locations of the 12 villages of Pshavi for Google Earth, please click here, and download the ".kmz" file.

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Here is a recording of Lazare Elizbarashvili's father Ioseb, his predecessor as khevisberi of the Sacred Shrine of Iaqsar, officiating during the feast (dgheoba) of Iaqsar in the 1980s.

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(This prayer was recorded from Mirian Khutsishvili's ethnographic film Pshavi.)

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Zezvaoba Horse Race 2009 (part 2)

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The following are some pictures of this year's (2009) Zezvaoba horse race, held annually in the Tush villages of Kakheti (Zemo- and Kvemo-Alvani).
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the t'alavari, laid out in zemo-alvani with offerings for zezva gaprindauli's soul in the afterlife
(bread, salt, meat, cheese, wool for his clothes, barley for his horse, and bottles of homemade beer and wine)
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the young riders who will take part in the funerary horse race arrive from the neighbouring village of kvemo-alvani, accompanied by elders who sing the dalai, a song for the soul of the deceased
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the elders sing the dalai lamentation, song which accompanies a precise ritual (called dalaoba) during which they consume the offerings laid out on the t'alavari for zezva gaprindauli's soul
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three of the thirty-odd riders who took part in the race
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some details of the horses' saddles
(note the strip of white cloth tied to the left-hand horse's bridle:
this indicates that the horse has been consecrated, and that it may take part in the race)
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the sacred tush flags, the droshebi
(no relation with switzerland - the similarity is puzzling)
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the riders on their way to takhtis bogiri, the place where zezva gaprindauli's horse died, and where the race will begin (see links at the bottom of this page for more information)
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the 12 year-old winner crosses the finish-line in kvemo-alvani
the winner is the first to reach the sacred drosha
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the winner received a sheep, 1,000 Lari (about 400 Euros - an enourmous sum of money for these villagers), and the right to parade around with the sacred tush flag
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For more information on the Zezvaoba horse race, please see the following pages:
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http://transcaucasian.blogspot.com/2009/05/zezvaoba-horse-race-2009.html
http://transcaucasian.blogspot.com/2009/01/tale-of-zesva-as-written-by-goulbat.html
http://transcaucasian.blogspot.com/2008/02/doghi.html
http://transcaucasian.blogspot.com/2007/05/zezwaoba-dalaoba.html
http://transcaucasian.blogspot.com/2007/05/dalaoba.html
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Happily married

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Two cheesy portraits of the happy couple, with Rezo Orbetishvili - better known as "the Bats Minister of Culture" - present. He came all the way from Alvani to Mleta (on the road to Qazbegi) for our wedding, accompanied by 4 Tush singers and traditional Tush wedding gifts viz. sweets, cakes shaped like rams, a cross with apples stuck on it, etc.
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(The carpet is an old Tush kilim. And many thanks to William Dunbar, the PressTV correspondent in Georgia, for the loan of the khanjali (dagger).)
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Zezvaoba Horse Race 2009

dalaoba

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This Sunday 31 May 2009 near the villages of Kvemo- ("Lower") and Zemo- ("Upper") Alvani, the Tush will commemorate the death of their erstwhile leader Zezva Gaprindauli by organizing a doghi or funerary horse race centred upon his grave a few kilometres east of Kvemo Alvani.

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Zezva Gaprindauli led the Tush in battle against the Persians at the battle of Bakhtrioni in 1659. Following the (shortlived) Georgian victory, the princes of Kakheti and of the Aragvi and Ksani Gorges - to whose aid Zezva and his men had come - granted the Tush land in the Alazani Valley for wintering their flocks. Zezva was told that all the land his horse could encircle at a gallop would belong to the Tush in perpetuity. This land "belongs" to the Tush to this day, and is centred upon the villages of Kvemo- and Zemo- Alvani.
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The following photographs of last year's (2008) Zezvaoba horse race in Alvani were taken by Giorgi Mamardashvili from the State Museum of Georgia. The winner was a young Kist boy from the Pankisi, who was held aloft by his friends to cries of "Allah is great!" following his victory; I imagine the (Christian) Tush were not amused...
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The 2007 edition of Zezvaoba was a rather muted affair compared to last year's celebrations: The funerary race seems to have turned into the "Zezvaoba & Carpet Festival", and is now sponsored by USAID and Geocell. Last year's event featured an archery contest and stalls selling food and local artistry (carpets, felt, and the ubiquitous knitted socks).
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As far as the author is concerned, the highlight of the entire day is not the exciting horse race itself, but the moving ceremony called "dalaoba", where a group of riders sing a lament called "dalai" in memory of the deceased Zezva Gaprindauli.

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Last year's winner - A young Kist from Duisi
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A pretty serious-looking Chechen (or Kist) rider
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The Kist riders' "coach"
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A breathtaking display of local feltwork
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Zezvaoba 2008, proudly brought to you by Geocell...
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An archery contest - The prizes include knitted socks and bundles of raw sheep's wool!
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"God is great!"
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For more information on Zezva Gaprindauli and Zezvaoba, please see the following pages:
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The Tale of Zesva, as written by A. Goulbat
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The tradition of Zezwaoba
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Zezwaoba 2007
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More on doghi (horse races)
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Ethnographic Map of Tusheti

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tushetis istoriul-etnograpiuli dzeglebis kartograpireba
[historical-ethnographical map of Tusheti]
Courtesy of Giorgi Mamardashvili from the State Museum of Georgia. The definition is poor, but familiarity with the region should enable one to glean some information from the map.
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Ethnographic Map of Qvara-Tianeti

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qvara-tianetis salotsavebi
[map of holy places in Qvara-Tianeti]
Courtesy of Giorgi Mamardashvili from the State Museum of Georgia. The definition is poor, but familiarity with the region should enable one to glean some information from the map.
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Ethnographic Map of Pirikita-Khevsureti

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pirikita khevsuretis djvar-khatebis ruka
[a map of shrines and holy places in pirikita khevsureti]
Courtesy of Giorgi Mamardashvili from the State Museum of Georgia. The definition is poor, but familiarity with the region should enable one to glean some information from the map.
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Ethnographic Map of Piraketa-Khevsureti

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piraketa khevsuretis djvar-khatebis ruka
[a map of shrines and holy places in piraketa khevsureti]
Courtesy of Giorgi Mamardashvili from the State Museum of Georgia. The definition is poor, but familiarity with the region should enable one to glean some information from the map.
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Through Foreign Eyes - The Bats/Tsova and Tush in Ethnographical Literature

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--- I ---
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ALLEN, W.E.D. (Ed.), Russian Embassies to the Georgian Kings – 1589-1605, The Hakluyt Society, Second Series No. CXXXVIII, Cambridge University Press 1970 (pp. 288-289).
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COMMENTARY 15
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Metsk, Batsk (ref. Chap. 2, p. 111, n. 1)
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'Dont la position est absolument inconnue' Brosset (EC/BHP/II, Nos. 14-15, col. 236). Some of the topographical indications of this passage are obscure but it would seem that the Georgians were proposing a route up the valley of the Argun, leading by tracks over the main chain of [the] Caucasus [mountains] into the upper valleys of the Aragvi and the Alazani. This route would cross the territory of the Akko Chechens (Shikh murza's Okok) who were friendly to the Russians and had a sloboda at Terek-town (see Introduction, Section 5 and Commentary 14). The villages of Upper and Lower Kii (Akki) lie on an affluent of the Tchanti (White) Argun, the westerly feeder of the Argun (Baddeley, RFC, Vol. II, index under 'Kii' and Map V, and for description of Argun route as far as the Tchanti Argun, ibid., Vol. I, pp. 90 ff.). West of the Tchanti Argun a track crosses the Basti-lam (lam = mountain, ridge, in Ingush), the boundary between Chechnya and Georgia (ibid., Vol. I, p. 114) to Shatil (1,524 m.) west of the great peaks of Tebulos-mta (4,494 m.); then by the Anatori Pass to Khamkheti and paths leading to the upper valleys of the Aragvi and the Alazani. From Shatil, Baddeley states, a ride to Tiflis 'in summer or early autumn' would always be feasible. Compare Radde's 'Marschroute', 1876, in Die Chews'uren und ihr Land, as far as Djarego on the Tchanti Argun. West of this river Meesti ridge or plateau is marked on Güldenstädt's map; it seems to correspond to Miskin-doukh of Baddeley's Map V. Bronevski (Vol. II, p. 166) refers to an Ingush commune of Meesti, and also to the Aka and Betsi communes of the upper Kombulei. These indications explain the Metsk mountain range of Zvenigorodski. Amaley is the river Kombulei (Reineggs/W., Vol. I, p. 311; Bronevski, Vol. II, pp. 91, 152, 160), whose upper valley runs parallel with the Sunzha, the Assa and the Argun, and finally enters the Terek a few miles above Tartarup. Burnash remains obscure.
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Reineggs/W. (Vol. II, p. 39), described the Basti as a sub-tribe of the Kists, then settled on the left bank of the middle Sunzha. They were neighbours of the Alti (cf. Baddeley, RFC, Vol. I, p. 79, for the commune of Aldee, famous as the base of Sheikh Mansur in 1785). These Basti may have been a fragment of an older Batsi agglomeration along the Sunzha. The Batsi (Georgian plur. Batsebi) were held to be Kists (Baddeley, RFC, Vol I, p. 90) who are related to the Chechens (Reineggs/W., Vol. I, p. 41). (Bronevski, Vol. II, p. 158, finds that the Kist language has some resemblance to Tush, and he believes therefore that the (Georgian) Tushes must be of Kist origin; it would seem here that he is in fact referring to the Batsi whose dialect has been much influenced by Georgian: see Desheriev.) In 1575 the communes of the Batsi in the tchanti-Argun district sought the protection of King Levan of Kakheti against the Avar nutsal; they were allowed to pasture their flocks in the highlands of upper Kakheti, south of the main ridge of [the] Caucasus [mountains] and south-east of the great peak of Tebulos-mta and the Kadowanis Pass (3,048 m.), where they mixed with the Tushes. During the last century they moved as far south as Akhmeti and Alvan on the Alazani (cf. Desheriev, Batsbiyski yazyk, and Radde, Chews'uren, pp. 330 ff., and map). For the suggestion that the Batsebi represent a surviving fragment of the classical Bessoi, see Karst, OM, p. 504; also Allen, 'Ex Ponto, I and II' in BK, No. 30/31 (1958), p. 51.
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COMMENTARY 20(c)
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'Soni-land' (=Sonskaya Zemlya): note on the ethnology of the eristavate of the Aragvi (ref. Chap. 3, p. 133, n. 2)
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Neighbours of the Didos to the north-west were the Sodi of Pliny, VI, 10, whom Trever (Ocherki po istorii I kulture Kavkazskoy Albanii, Moskva, 1959, p. 202, n. 3) equates with the Tsavdi. There is a reference to the Tsavdi in the fifth century A.D. when they are bracketed with the Lipni or Lbini (Trever, p. 202), who are none other than the Lupeni of the classical authors (Trever, p. 48), a people perhaps to be identified with a wolf totem (cf. Commentary 41 for the cult of a black dog without spots surviving among the Didos).
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The name Tsavdi corresponds to the Tsova of Wakhusht (Brosset ed., Description géographique de la Géorgie par le Tsarévich Wakhoucht publiée d'après l'original autograph par M. Brosset, St Petersburg, 1842, p. 327). It is possible to pinpoint the Tsavdi/Sodi from Wakhusht's account of Tusheti at the beginning of the eighteenth century (see Brosset's ed., pp. 327-9 and map 4 – 'Kakheth'). Tusheti is placed north of Mount Lopeti and the Lopotis-tsqali, clearly toponymic fossils of the old Lupeni, i.e. Lop-eti = the country of the Lup-en-i). The district lies on the flanks of the main chain where it forms the watershed of the Argun flowing north to the Terek and the Andi-koysu flowing north-east to the Sulak and the Caspian. Tusheti is divided into two valleys running from north-west to south-east. It has its own river (Tchanti-Argun on Baddeley's, The rugged flanks of Caucasus, Oxford, 1940, Map II where the place-name “Shoundee” still survives) which goes to join the Sona (here Argun) which crosses Tchatchan (Chechnia) and at Baraghan falls into the Terg (Terek). Tsova is beyond the Caucasus (i.e. south of the main ridge) in the direction of Pankisi; below Tsova is Gometsari, and lower down Tchaghma; from this last place the route leads to the valleys of Torga (cf. Commentary 28: The Village of Tog) and Lopoti: there are situated the principal villages of Tusheti but there are thirty-seven others. Of the remnants of the 'Tsoff' at the beginning of the twentieth century Baddeley, The rugged flanks of Caucasus, Vol. I, p. 90, observes that “amongst the Tousheens there is a whole community, known formerly by the name of Tsoff... which speaks a dialect of the Kist (Ingush) language and is, presumably, of Kist origin, though cut off from them as far back as history goes'.
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Another group of these Sodi/Tsavdi/Tsova maintained their individuality into mediaeval times in the district of Sagaredzho, along the middle reaches of the Iori, since Janashvili, in his edition of Wakhusht (p. 104, n. 351), cites Kartlis-Tskhovreba, Vol. I, p. 239, for Sudzheti as an alternative name for Sagaredzho, naming the inhabitants Sudzhi or Sodzhi – forms which closely correspond to the classical Sodi.
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Genko, Iz kulturnogo proshlogo Ingushey in Zapiski Kollegii Vostokovedov, Leningrad, 1930, p. 698, recalls that Tsiskarov, in his 'Notes on Tusheti' published in 1849 in the Tiflis journal Kavkaz, gives 'Vabua' as a second and ancient name of the original homeland of the Tsov who were then inhabiting the enclave among the Tush. He comments that 'there can be no doubt that the ancient Tsov name for Tsovata, Vabua, is identical with the tribal appellation of the Veppintsy (contemporary form fäppij) who were grouped around their ancient centre Erzi aul (Arzee on Baddeley's The rugged flanks of Caucasus, Map II) – on the river Arm-khi (Kistinka) which enters the Terek some versts below Old Lars'. According to the same author (p. 707), erziy (ärzij) is the Ingush word for 'eagle' – 'in all probability an old Iranian loan-word'. This may be compared with the totemic implications of 'Tsounta' and 'Tsesi', see p. 315 above. In the present writer's view, the Veppintsy (fäppij) can be a remnant of the classical Bessi of Macedonia and the Psessoi of the Cimmerian Bosporus, a widespread ethnic group of very ancient origins: for refs. See Bédi Karthlisa, Nos. 30-1, article by Allen, 'Ex Ponto I: Heni-Veneti and Os-Alans', passim. To the same remote background belong the Soni/Sodi/Sonti/Tsavdi, who can be identified with the varying forms Heni in classical sources.
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In the 'Conversion of Georgia', a record compiled in the tenth century and relating to events of the sixth century, the Daryal gorge is named the 'Tsanar ravine' (cf. Genko, p. 711). The identity of Tsanar (in Georgian Ts'anar with ejaculative ts') with Ptolemy's Zanarioi has been accepted by Minorsky (Hudūd al-'Ālam: 'The regions of the world', Oxford, 1937, pp. 400 ff.). Zan-ari-oi, in fact represents the root zan>son with the duplication of the Svanian plural in -ar and the Greek plural in -oi. 'In the ninth to tenth century A.D. the Tsanar are often identified with the Kakhs. Finally, the Georgian-speaking peoples entirely absorbed the Tsanar... As regards the nucleus of the Tsanar trible, N.Y. Marr (Izvestiya Rossiyskoy Akademii Nauk, 1916, pp. 1397-8), hinted at its common origin with the present-day Chechen. Such is also the opinion of A.N. Genko, the undisputed authority on that part of the Caucasus' (Minorsky, ibid., and Genko, 711).
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--- II ---
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MOSER, Louis, The Caucasus and its People, with a Brief History of their Wars, and a Sketch of the Achievements of the Renowned Chief Schamyl, London 1856 (pp. 67-69).
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6. The Medzeghee or Kists, are often called Tchetchenzes, from the name of their most influential tribe. They possess the virtues and qualities peculiar to the Circassian races, and especially a most enthusiastic love of freedom and independence, submitting with the utmost reluctance to a foreign yoke, and watching with keen vigilance every opportunity of throwing it off.
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Their villages consist of flat-roofed stone houses, protected by walls and towers, capable of resisting an energetic attack. Some of these tribes possess an abundance of cattle and corn, but they are nevertheless very frugal in their mode of living. They usually confine themselves to the district bordered on the west by the Terek (in the part where it flows northward), on the east by the Aksai and Engure, and bounded on the north by the Lesser Kabarda and Sundcha, and to the south by the Snowy Mountains.
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The most influential tribes among them are:---
1. The Ingushes, or Galgai, who reside on the Kumbolei, and in the plains between the latter and the banks of the Assai.
2. The Kists, north-west of the Ingushes, and extending to the Argun.
3. The Karabulaks, from the Zarthan to the Argun; and lastly,
4. The Tchetchenzes, who are found along the banks of the Argun, the Aksai, and the Sundcha. Several branches of this tribe inhabit the Snowy Mountain ridges, and of these the principal are:---
a. The Tchavi, from the Aragvi to the springs of the Yori.
b. The Tuschi, found to the east of the latter, on the Alazani.
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--- III ---
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ABERCROMBY, John, A Trip through the Eastern Caucasus, with a Chapter on the Languages of the Country, London 1889.
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For the first time in the Caucasus I saw a rainbow, which Mejid knew as "Peighamber's girdle," or the girdle of the Prophet. The Tush, who are closely connected in language with the Chechents, call it "the girdle of the sky"; the latter people "the bow of the sky." (p. 127)
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Half an hour's ride, however, along the right bank of the stream brought us opposite the village of Shatil, 4677 feet above the sea, and inhabited by a different race from the Chechents. Tatar called them Tush, but strictly speaking they were Khevsurs, an offshoot of the Georgians. Some of the Tush are, linguistically at least, Chechents, but the word seems often applied to the Georgian-speaking highlanders; for I could never get Mejid, who said he had often seen them at Nukha, to allow they were anything but Georgians. The Chechents-speaking Tush call themselves Batsav, and live south-east of the Khevsurs. (p. 172)
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--- IV ---
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BADDELEY, The Conquest of the Caucasus, London 1908
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The men of the Lioublin regiment lost their colonel, Korneeloff, cousin of the hero of Sevastopol, but bayoneted those who had killed him and hacked off their heads. The Tousheens, too, the bravest of the many brave races of the Caucasus, who contributed a small body to the native contingent, kept up their time-honoured custom of cutting off the right hand of a slain or wounded enemy (see note), and in condemning the cruelty habitually practised by the semi-savage warriors of Daghestan and Tchetchnia it is only fair to remember that their Christian foemen, who were also the invaders of their country, frequently stooped to similar practices.
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Note: Shaté, a celebrated Tousheen warrior, who accompanied Vrevsky's Deedo expedition in 1857, had no less than seventy of these ghastly trophies nailed to his walls, and no Tousheen could obtain a bride who had not at least one severed right hand to show. The Tousheens were Christians, of Georgian extraction. (p. 398)
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A Chechen Death-Song

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Quite remarkable - for the sheer intensity of the two quatrains and the final couplet (particularly the last line), and for the reference to the elder brother of the deceased, whose duty it is to avenge his brother's death! Found in Baddeley's The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus (London 1908, pp. 488-489).
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The earth will dry on my grave,
Mother, my Mother!
And thou wilt forget me!
And over me rank grasses wave,
Father, my Father!
Nor wilt thou regret me!
When tears cease thy dark eyes to lave,
Sister, dear Sister!
No more will grief fret thee!

But thou, my Brother the Elder, wilt never forget,
With vengeance denied me!
And thou, my Brother the Younger, wilt ever regret
Till thou liest beside me!

Hotly thou camest, oh death-bearing ball that I spurned,
For thou was my Slave!
And thou, black earth, that my battle-steed trampled and churned,
Wilt cover my grave!

Cold art thou, oh Death, yet I was thy Lord and Master!
My body sinks fast to earth; my Soul to Heaven flies faster!
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Georges Dumezil

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Georges Dumézil was born in Paris in 1898, the son of a clacissist, and became interested in ancient languages at a very young age. According to the Wikipaedia entry, "it has been said that he could read the Aeneid in Latin at the age of 9". Having finished school, he went to France's elite Ecole Nationale Supérieure in 1916.

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His studies were interrupted by the First World War (the Battle of Verdun took place the year he became a student): He was mobilized, and fought in the war as an officer in the French artillery. After the war, he resumed his studies, and obtained his agrégation in Classical Literature in 1921.

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He spent a few months teaching in France, before becoming a lecturer at the University of Warsaw. In 1924, he received his doctorate, having written his doctoral thesis on "The Feast of Immortality" in Indo-European mythologies, thesis in which he compared the origins of the Greek "ambrosia" and the Indian drink "amrita", which was believed to render the man who drank it immortal.

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Dumézil apparently found the academic climate in France rather stifling, and moved to (the then nascent republic of) Turkey. He became Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Istanbul in 1925, where he taught for six . He learnt Turkish, and travelled in Turkey, Russia, and the Caucasus. It was also in Turkey that he first came across the Ubykh language, which was to fascinate him for years, and the experience and knowledge of the Caucasus he gained during these years was to make him the foremost French (and francophone) caucasologist.

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He left Turkey in 1931, and moved to Uppsala in Sweden, where he taught at the University for 2 years before returning to France in 1933. Back in Paris, he held the Chair of Comparative Religion of Indo-European Peoples at the famous Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.

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Named a member of the prestigious Collège de France after the war (1949), where he held the Chair of Indo-European Civilization (created specially for him), Dumézil would go on to teach at the Collège for almost 20 years, before moving to Princeton University (1968-1971).

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Prof. Georges Dumézil was elected to the 40th Chair of the Académie française on October 26, 1978, and was formally received by the illustrious Claude Lévi-Strauss - his colleague, patron, and fellow student of mythology.

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Doctor honoris causa of the University of Uppsala (1955), of Istanbul (1964), of Berne (1969), of Liège (1979), Associate Member of the Académie royale de Belgique (1958), Member of the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1968), Member of the Académie des Inscriptions et belles-lettres de Paris (1970), Honorary Member of The Royal Irish Academy, Section of Polite Literature and Antiquities (1974), Honorary Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1974), Prof. Georges Dumézil died on October 11, 1986.

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Dumézil published many books and articles. The following list concerns itself only with those related to the Caucasus:
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Légendes sur les Nartes (Institut d’Études Slaves, 1930)
Textes populaires ingush (A. Maisonneuve, 1935)
Contes et légendes des Oubykhs (Institut d’Ethnologie, 1957)
Contes lazes (Institut d’Ethnologie, 1957)
Études oubykhs (A. Maisonneuve, 1959)
Documents anatoliens sur les langues et les traditions du Caucase (A. Maisonneuve, 1960-'67)
Le livre des héros, légendes ossètes sur les Nartes (Gallimard, 1965)
Le verbe oubykh, études descriptives et comparatives (Académie des Inscriptions et belles-lettres, 1975)
Romans de Scythie et d’alentour (Payot, 1978)
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Two books from the author's library:
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